FarmLinks at Pursell Farms has taken a rather unconventional path to becoming Alabama’s No. 1 golf resort for more than a decade.
The course opened in 2003 and was built as a mechanism for the Pursell family to showcase its fertilizer products and golf technologies to turfgrass professionals. Word quickly spread that this unique “research and demonstration” course was always in prime shape, offering a welcoming and fun layout in the rolling Appalachian foothills 50 minutes southeast of Birmingham.
“I think it’s fair to say Pursell Farms wasn’t designed for golfers at all but as a real, living laboratory for the green industry to see state-of-the-art fertilizer products, for superintendents of places like Torrey Pines, Pine Valley, Pinehurst and Augusta National to come and see premium conditions firsthand,” said Tim Spanjer, the resort’s longtime director of sales and marketing.
“Golfers then started to come, and they may be playing on 28 different varieties of grasses, so there was this kind of uniqueness to the course experience,” Spanjer added. “People would walk away and say, ‘You know what, there was something very different about that course and we loved it.’”
The course was designed by the award-winning architectural team of Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry with a focus on playability.
“It was designed to be player-friendly — maybe a place where you can shoot one of your career-best rounds of golf,” Spanjer says. “There are wide-open fairways, elevation changes, no blind shots and large, forgiving bentgrass greens, a type of grass on the putting surface that is unusual for the South.”
Each hole has been tagged with a unique moniker, with the par-3 fifth hole dubbed “Hang Time” for its 172-foot drop from the back tees and sweeping views of the 3,200-acre family farm and southern Alabama.
Many world golf travelers associate Alabama golf with the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, a collection of 468 golf holes located at 11 sites across the state. The RTJ Golf Trail was established in 1990 by the state, and while Pursell Farms is located in the middle of its footprint, it is not a member.
But that has not impacted Pursell Farms; in fact, the opposite has happened as the course has morphed into somewhat of a cult classic for golfers as a “must-play” round when visiting the RTJ Golf Trail, much like Tobacco Road has become for those visiting Pinehurst Resort.
“The reputation earned at Pursell Farms starts with how we treat people,” said David McDonald, the president of Texas-based Escalante Golf, which manages Pursell Farms. “We genuinely love to serve our guests, delivering one-of-a-kind, customer-centric hospitality from the moment we welcome them at the gate. It is that heart of service, combined with a golf course that people love to play and find approachable, that leaves a lasting impression with those traveling golfers.”
The Pursell Technologies fertilizer business was sold in 2006 for $100 million, and while some experimental grass research was still being executed, the “living lab” location on the three-generation farm began to phase into a new chapter.
“We had built a reputation back in the day and we really started to get a footing in the golf community, certainly in Alabama and throughout the Southeast, as a very cool, different sort of golf experience,” Spanjer says. “When we sold the fertilizer business it was like, ‘Hey, what do we do now?’ Well, the beauty was we had created an enormous following of people who just loved the place, so the idea of moving into hospitality seemed to make the most sense, so that’s what we’ve done.”
What began with a modest lodging inventory has now expanded into five different options with 81 total rooms, including the latest addition in 2018: The Inn. The facility features 40 guest suites, an outdoor pool, a fitness facility and fine dining.
When golf season starts to slow down in late October, the resort’s Orvis Shooting Grounds becomes a popular activity, as does archery, fishing and horseback riding.
Spanjer also traces the resort’s tremendous uptick in golfing popularity to 2020 and COVID-19, which spawned a series of social media posts and videos that turned golfers nationwide on to the rustic charm of Pursell Farms.
For example, Spanjer says popular golf content creator Garrett Clark, who has 1 million followers on his primary Instagram account, wanted to get away during COVID-19, so he camped out at Pursell Farms for several weeks to shoot golf content.
“It gave us a footing to really explode on social media with that influencer brand over the years, and it has only steamrolled and gotten bigger and bigger,” Spanjer says. “It opened up incredible awareness for us coast-to-coast, opening our doors to the entire country for leisure and business groups.
“Prior to all the social media, we sort of catered to golfers in the Atlanta area and a 300-mile radius around the farm for weekend travelers and couples. Boy, has that grown. We are now seeing a tremendous amount of group travel from places like the upper Midwest and from as far as 700 miles away.”
A round of golf at Pursell Farms costs around $250 depending on the season, and the resort offers numerous packages that include lodging and other activities.
“It’s just a great experience, topped off by the family that operates it,” Fry said. “It has a very unique feel because it’s not owned by a corporation or a company. It’s literally operated by the Pursell family … and I love that after more than 20 years it is still run by the family. The Southern hospitality and homespun atmosphere when you are there makes you feel like it’s your home club and a part of a family. It’s pretty rare when most people don’t run into one of the Pursells, and they will tell you the story of the place, the history of it and why the land means so much. It’s such a cool place.”
